Dozens of celebrities from Bulgaria and 11 European countries have joined a new video calling on citizens to support the campaign to modernize science by ending laboratory experiments on animals. ‎

According to EC data from 2019, nearly 11 million animals were used for experiments in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry in the countries of the Old Continent. Experiments are most often carried out on mice, fish and birds, often on dogs, pigs, monkeys or horses. Worryingly, the number of experimental animals in the EU is not decreasing, even though there are already many alternative ways to successfully carry out experiments. However, the use of laboratory-grown tissues is not required by law, and so many scientists continue to carry out cruel experiments on animals by force of habit.

Laboratory animals are used for the testing of drugs, chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, paints, household preparations, food additives, cosmetics or botox, to research treatments and operations, to produce various substances. Experimentally, substances are dripped into the eyes of animals, applied to the skin, injected. Animals are force-fed or forced to inhale preparations. During the experiments, animals artificially develop symptoms of diseases, even those that occur only in humans (e.g. Parkinson's disease or schizophrenia) - we learn from the page of the campaign "Without pain" /bezbolka.bg/. ‎

A new video, voiced by popular Bulgarian actors and artists, calls for an end to animal testing in the European Union. The actors Silvia Petkova, Orlin Pavlov and the singer Bilyana Lazarova voice the three heroes of the campaign, and through the video, they call on everyone to join the subscription to change the attitude towards animals and stop experiments on them. ‎

In order for the citizens' initiative "Experiments without animals" to be successful, 1 million valid signatures from EU citizens must be collected by the end of August. By the middle of August, nearly 50,000 signatures have been collected from Bulgaria, Stefan Dimitrov from the civil organization "Invisible Animals" told BNR. ‎

In Bulgaria, the main regulation on the use of animals in laboratories is carried out under the Animal Protection Act. There are also a number of non-governmental organizations that also work for the protection of animals and the prevention of experiments outside of legal norms. At the same time, scientists who conduct similar experiments confirm that animals are very different from humans, so tests on them do not give much guarantee. Anatomical, metabolic and cellular differences between humans and animals make experiments on animals not completely reliable in relation to the influence of tested substances on the human organism.

Compiled by Gergana Mancheva

Editing by Elena Karkalanova